The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-08-22
A DENTAL COLLEGE.
HALF PLEDGED DENTISTS PRACTlC-
ING ON THEIR PATIENTS.

Scenes in the Operating Room-In the
Operating Chair-0Tan ufacture of Plates
and Teeth - The Museum Students
from Everywhere.
The exterior of the building is so harm
less and inoffensive in appearance that few
persons would suspect that behind those
walls are concealed something like $50
human beings, the majority of them young
men, engaged in mastering the technicali-
ties connected with the preservation and
extraction of molars, bicuspids, incisors,
CANNES and all the other things in the
mouth to which the scientists have given |
such terrible names, and which, on Occas-
sion, ache so like the late Samuel Hill Is
it not a dreadful thought? Two hundred
and fifty men about to be turned loose
upon the Inhabitants of this city, to eStab-
lish $50 dental rooms, to smile blandly
upon $50 patients who come timidly in,
holding on to their jaws; to pop them into
$50 chairs and say "Open your mOuth-a
little wider, please then silence for a
moment; then $50 shriekS to rend the air,
followed presently by an equal number of
long drawn ''ahSi' expressive of immeas-
urable relief. 1t almost takes away ones
breath to think of it.
Observing several persons entering with
that uncertain gait and troubled express
sion of cOuntenance which mark the den
lists prey, q reporter backed up by an
intrepid artist, ventured into this place the
other day to see what was to be seen.
Armed with an accident policy for one
day, and with note books and pencils care
fully concealed, they assembled a flight of
stairs and entered long, narrow room
containing about a dozen chairs of q kind
but too familiar to need description. They
were occupied by twelve unfOrtunates,
mostly females, in various stages of I'M
happiness. There wasn't cheerfulness
enough diffused over all their cOunte
nances put together to make up one single
sickly defeated candidate the day-after
election smile. But there was enough
cheerfulness on the faces of the opera DIS,
as well as on those of the other StUC entS
who were visible, to rathe[ more than over
balance the gloom that otherwise .charac-
teriZed the proceedings.
BY rare good fortune the artist recOg- !
nized ffiend i'll a six foot student, who !
was watching a young man run a buzz |
saw between the teeth of a neatly dressed |
and rather attractive young lady He !
consented to act the part of ciCerOne, and |
under his guidance and protection the !
twain made the tour of the premises, be |
ginning with the extracting room. That |
is, they began with it after Il while, but |
not quite Immediately, for on trying the |
door it proved to be locked, and various |
hollow groans and muff1ed cries from be |
yOnd conveyed but too plainly to the |
listeners the fact that some student was |
adding to his information as to the ratio |
between his dexter arm and some deCayed |
premaXillary grinder When the student |
had concluded his operations the door was |
opened. About a dozen students were |
gathered around the operating chair and |
young woman in a state of collapse was |
departing The students seemed to be |
having little discussion as to whose turn |
it was to have the next Crack" and |
waved various dreadful looking instru- |
ments of torture about them i'll an alarm |
ingly careless manner.
Leaving this ensanguined field, the eX-
plOring party ventured next into the third |
story. Here was another large room,
with more chairs and more unfOrtunates.
All the chairs were fun and the students
were working away for dear life. The
professors look at the patients teeth be
fore the student begins to operate and
after he has completed his work. If it is
satisfactory, he receives a mark in accord /
ance with the excellence of his work. If
it is not good, he has to take it out and do
it over again. This, the reporter was in
formed, did not very often happen, but
when it did it was apt to engender i'll feel
ing between the operator and Operatee.
Adjoining this was a large room devoted
TO the manufacture of plates and sets of
teeth. In one corner of the room was q
furnace about as hot as a crematOry in
full blast. The student led the unhappy
visitors directly to this and planted them
within six inches of it while he gave them
all the details he could think of concern
ing the institution.
The professor afterward took the visit
ors in charge and showed them the mU-
scum, containing among other things
casts of the heads of persons upon whom
remarkable dental and surgical opera
tiOns had been performed by the faculty
of this institute. There was the case, for
instance, of young man whom they
called Tommy" who, through some
cancerOus affection, had lost his entire
nose and all his teeth As shown by the
cast, he must have been q hideOus object
to gaze upon. The middle finger of his
left arm was bound down upon his face
the skin opened and left there until il
should unite. When union had taken
place, the finger was cut off at the first /
joint, and the man had a very tOlerable /
looking nose at the expense of a finger.
The professor was Intercepted as to /
the nationality of the students. He re-
piled that they came from all parts of the +
world, and ranged in age from Il to "a. /
There was among them even one man /
from Greece. He was a middle aged, /
quiet looking Individual, and, the pro
fessor said, was very conscientious and
careful in his work. The operating is